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21
21 is the premiere episode of Season 2 of Boardwalk Empire, and the 13th episode overall. It was written by executive producer and show runner Terence Winter and directed by executive producer Tim Van Patten. It originally aired on 25 September 2011. Plot Synopsis Nucky is rocked by an insurrection among his inner circle; Chalky's life and livelihood are threatened by a vicious KKK attack; Margaret copes with her son's disciplinary problems; Angela vies with Gillian for Jimmy's affections at home; Van Alden shows his wife Rose around town as an anniversary present.Written by HBO Publicity. Recap Opening Scene Montage (to the sound of Irving Berlin's After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It, ''sung by Kathy Brier) A full bottle of Old Jamaica Rum lies on the beach just before dawn. A kid picks it up and hands it to Richard Harrow, who is overseeing the unloading of a new batch of illegal alcohol near Atlantic City. Harrow and his men then load the alcohol on trucks carrying coal as a cover and his boss, Jimmy Darmody, orders the vehicles to depart. Meanwhile, at Babette's Supper Club, Nucky Thompson and his four ward bosses - Jim Neary, George O'Neill, Al Boyd and Damien Fleming - are gambling and partying with Babette and some floozies. Jimmy takes the liquor shipment to a warehouse in the woods that is run by Chalky White. Chalky pays Jimmy and opens a bottle to taste the rum, approving it. At his home, Eli Thompson checks his nasty looking bullet scar in a mirror. The Commodore Louis Kaestner exercizes with an Asian spear, fully recovered from his poison attempt. In the background, Langston serves breakfast. At the train station, Nelson Van Alden presents his visiting wife, Rose, with a bouquet of flowers. Margaret Schroeder wakes up and realizes that Nucky has not slept at home. At Babette's, the staff is opening the curtains to let daylight in while O'Neill drowsily dances with a floozy and Neary plays cards. Nucky flirts with another floozy until Eddie Kessler interrupts him and tells him what hour is already. First Act Chalky is overseeing the watering of the rum when someone knocks on the warehouse's door. He sents one of his men, Orville, to open the door and orders the rest to be quiet and keep working. Orville opens the door and finds Tyson, Chalky's man trusted with guarding the door outside, with his throat slashed from ear to ear. As Tyson drops dead on the ground, Orville sees four klansmen with a Browning M1917 machine gun aiming at the warehouse. They promptly fire it, hitting Orville and three other men while Chalky and the others try to cover themselves. However, the gun soon jams, and the klansman behind orders two of his comrades to "get in and just take him out", revealing that they are looking for someone in particular. The two enter the building carrying M1917 Enfield rifles and soon enough one of them sees Chalky and puts the cannon right on his face. "Purity, sobriety, and the white Christian Jesus", he says. However, right before he can fire, a black woman armed with a shotgun emerges from the background and shoots him. Another black man appears and begins to shoot with a revolver. The klansman tries to retaliate, but in the end decides to help his companion, who has been shot in an arm, to get out of the building. As the klansmen get on the truck and leave, Chalky picks the wounded man's rifle and fires at the klansmen in the distance, nailing one right on the neck. Nucky returns to his new home to find Margaret arguing with Teddy in the kitchen while their maid Katy is feeding Emily. Teddy is sitting bellow the table and refuses to go to school, angering Margaret because he is upsetting his sister. When Nucky inquires about the reason he learns that Teddy was hit with a ruler by his teacher, Sister Bernice, for misbehaving. Margaret eventually convinces Teddy to leave with his sister to wash himself. She then reminds Nucky that it is almost 8:00 AM, but he is not ashamed. Nucky then attempts to intimate, but decides to sleep in his office in the Ritz Carlton Hotel when the children start making noise again. Jimmy, who is by now married to Angela, also has a new house by the beach. He arrives to find Tommy having breakfast while Angela and Gillian are unpacking the moving boxes. Jimmy asks if Nucky has phoned; Angela is puzzled and aks back if he was supposed to. Jimmy doesn't respond and asks for his breakfast, which Gillian offers to do as "she knows how he likes" it. Jimmy then proposes Tommy to go shooting gulls. Angela thinks he's too young, but Jimmy replies that he used to do it when he was his age. Gillian sides with her son and says that he did when he was ''younger, and that he went with his father, the Commodore. Jimmy corrects her and says that it was actually with Nucky. Angela is still concerned but following pressure from Tommy, Jimmy and Gillian she has to cave in. As Jimmy leaves with Tommy to get him dressed, Angela warns Gillian that she doesn't like her attempts to suplant her. Gillian says that she wasn't doing so; Angela is Jimmy's wife. "And Tommy's mother", Angela adds. Gillian says that she was just trying to help, and then adds that when Jimmy was a baby she used to kiss his pennis after changing his diaper, to Angela's surprise. Accompanied by his wife, Van Alden enters his office in the Post Office and finds his new subordinates wrestling on the floor. He angrily demands them to put the furniture back on place and explain themselves. One of them says that they weren't expecting him that day and assures him that they were going to work on the field reports immediately. Van Alden replies that his wife wanted to see the office and introduces her to the two agents, Clarkson and Sawicki, a member of Mount Olivet's Polish community. After informing them that Mrs. Van Alden is going to stay for the weekend, Clarkson hands her a guide titled If Jesus ever came to Atlantic City. Rose is thankful and hopes that all the churches in the place are included. In Chicago, George Remus is waiting in the Four Deuces for an interview with Johnny Torrio. Al Capone arrives and explains that Torrio is late because he has a problem in his ear. Remus sarcastically replies that Torrio seems to be blessed with convenient maladies that make other men take care of his business. Capone angrily responds that he is not Torrio’s errand boy. Remus tries to calm him saying that it used to be the same for himself. However, since Remus speaks of himself in the third person, his words leave Al confused. Torrio arrives and tells Al that Remus has left his job as a lawyer and is moving to Cincinati, in Ohio; he asks why. Remus answers that Cincinnati is the place where most of the US government stores its legal alcohol; Remus is going to build an empire buying medicinal alcohol and pharmacies and using them as a front to sell it to bootleggers. He adds that he has read the Volstead Act carefully and knows how to not be prosecuted, and offers to become Torrio’s alcohol provider. Al hesitates, but Torrio trusts Remus and decides to buy 4000 cases from him, then suggests him to see Odette to seal the deal. After Remus leaves, Torrio tells Al that he will travel to Atlantic City in a month and tell Nucky Thompson that things are going to change. Al asks for something clearer to say, but Torrio just shrugs and tells him to make something up. Al concludes that Torrio is indeed using him as his errand boy, as Remus said. Second Act It turns out that Nucky did not go to the Ritz only to sleep. He is actually crafting an elaborate plan with Mayor Bader and the ward bosses to buy worthless farmland that they know will be expropriated to build roads and then sell it to the state of New Jersey for ten times what they paid. Bader’s building firm will be contracted to make the roads. They offer Ancient Order of the Celts member Ernie Moran, who has a paving firm, to join their partnership and provide the gravel. After seeing how advanced their plan is already he agrees and offers Nucky a bribe to make sure that they will buy from him. As the reunion ends, Moran also reminds Nucky that he is set to meet IRA leader John McGarrigle the next day. Nucky places the bribe money in a ledger hidden in his closet and adds its amount to the book detailing the contability of his illegal deals. Eddie arrives and tells Nucky that they have an emergency: Chalky White has shot a klansman and the press has already been informed. Van Alden and his wife are riding a cart through the Boardwalk. Van Alden suggests they visit Lucy the Elephant in Margate. Rose pays no attention, distracted by the Baby Incubators. When they pass in front of the Ritz, Van Alden and Nucky share an icy stare. Rose asks who he is but Nelson declines to tell her, answering that he is someone of no consequence. When Rose finally takes a look at her guide she’s distraught: it’s actually a list of taverns and other places in Atlantic City where Jesus ‘’wouldn’t’’ go. Nelson takes it away and apologizes. Rose then tells her husband that maybe their infertility is for the better, since it will spare a child from being born in a sinful world. Nucky and Eli visit Chalky at his home, where his son Lester is playing the piano. Chalky’s wife Lenore offers them something to eat but they decline. Chalky then tells his wife that they have to speak in private. Nucky and Eli compliment Lester as he leaves; Lenore comments that he is going to attend Morehouse College in two years. (...) Third Act Production 660px|right Cast Starring *Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson *Michael Pitt as James "Jimmy" Darmody *Kelly MacDonald as Margaret Schroeder *Michael Shannon as Agent Nelson Van Alden *Shea Whigham as Sheriff Elias "Eli" Thompson *Aleksa Palladino as Angela Darmody *Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein (credit only) *Stephen Graham as Al Capone *Vincent Piazza as Lucky Luciano (credit only) *Paz de la Huerta as Lucille "Lucy" Danziger *Michael K. Williams as Albert "Chalky" White *Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle *Jack Huston as Richard Harrow *Anthony Laciura as Edward "Eddie" Kessler *with Gretchen Mol as Gillian Darmody *and Dabney Coleman as Commodore Louis Kaestner Guest starring *Dominic Chianese as Leander Cephas Whitlock *Greg Antonacci as Johnny Torrio *Enid Graham as Rose Van Alden *Robert Clohessy as Ward Boss Jim Neary *William Hill as Ward Boss George O'Neill *Kevin O'Rourke as Mayor Edward Bader *Victor Verhaeghe as Ward Boss Damien Fleming *Glenn Fleshler as George Remus *Bill Sage as Solomon Bishop Co-starring *Joseph Aniska as Agent Sawicki *Matty Blake *John Bolton as Carl Switzer *Joel Brady as Agent Clarkson *Rony Clanton as Langston *Justiin A. Davis as Lester White *Lucy and Josie Gallina as Emily Schroeder *Marceline Hugot as Sister Bernice *John Keating as Ernie Moran *Heather Lind as Katy *Eddie Manley as John Wright *Edward McGinty as Ward Boss Boyd *Rory and Declan McTigue as Teddy Schroeder *Tracy Lynn Middendorf as Babette *Brady and Connor Noon as Tommy Darmody *Franklin Ojeda Smith as Deacon Lemuel Cuffy *Natalie Wachen as Lenore White *Kathryn Avery as Dancer 1 *Leslie Flesner as Dancer 2 *Kate Harpootlian as Dancer 3 *Sarah Skogland as Dancer 4 *Emily Tyra as Dancer 5 Music Early in the episode - "After you get what you want" (Irving Berlin) Performed by Kathy Brier. Memorable Quotes *While at a Klansman's funeral (whom Chalky White killed), outside on the porch: Jimmy: "An awful waste of a lot of good tablecloths." Nucky: "The laundry bills alone...." Notes Category:Memorable Quotes Category:Season 2